With peak season nearing its close, The Port of Virginia in November handled 236,155 TEUs making it the second-busiest month in the port’s history.

In comparison with last November, TEU volumes are up 16 percent; rail units, up 35 percent; truck volume, up eight percent; Virginia Inland Port volume, up three percent; and Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) volume, up 20 percent.

“November was a strong month and we experienced solid growth in import and export volumes, which were up 17 percent and 15 percent respectively,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “Our peak-season volumes will begin tapering off in December, which is normal.”

The Port of Virginia is in positive territory in many categories, but one exception is vessel calls. “This is in keeping with the era of fewer calls but larger vessels and corresponding cargo volumes.” said Reinhart. “Combine our performance in November and the volume we handled in October—our single-best effort on record—and we moved 475,000 TEUs. It is important to recognize the fact that we processed this amount of volume safely and efficiently.”

November marks the tenth consecutive month in 2016 of TEU volumes exceeding 210,000 units.

“We believe developments like the recent expansion of Foreign Trade Zone 20 into seven counties and one city in northeast North Carolina will be of long-term benefit to The Port of Virginia,” said Reinhart. “The expansion of the FTZ across state lines another way we can leverage the port as a regional catalyst for commerce, job growth and investment.”

Year-to-date, the port’s TEU volume is up three percent; rail units up 14 percent; VIP volume up three percent; and RMT volume, up 30 percent. The import volume has grown by five percent and exports are up two percent.

Reinhart said the focus “will be maintaining momentum” as the port gets underway with the expansion of Virginia International Gateway later this month and late next spring at Norfolk International Terminals. Combined, these expansion projects will boost annual throughput capacity by 40 percent when complete.